Obama and This Week’s DebateNo doubt, to anyone, who won, this debate. Barack Obama.

His best debate performance so far. Stood up to sustained questioning on his alleged inexperience, which led the first seven minutes of the event, without losing his cool or backing down. He even made a well-received joke about preparing for the debate by riding the bumper cars at the Iowa State Fair. Tripled down on standing up for his recent controversial foreign policy statements on nuclear weapons, meeting with foreign leaders, and hunting al Qaeda, with firmness and good humor. Drew audience applause for again playing the I-opposed-the-Iraq-War card to tout his judgment. Sounded almost (Bill) Clintonesque in talking about trade and merit pay for teachers. Displayed the confidence of a leader. Iowa Politics, David Yepsen, Roger Simon, Debate Transcript

Well, the Obama Campaign is staying firm and true to form, when announcing, no more debates. That is unscheduled debates and forums. Now the nudging question is, who else will sit on the sidelines? It is no secret that Clinton and Edwards were complaining about the frequency of these debates/forums, now who is next to throw in the towel? My bet is on Clinton. Though she may just decline, without the formal announcing of not participating. I know this is a drag on many special interests groups, but as this topic has been written about, it only makes sense to decline these upcoming forums. With the primaries so close in 2008, these candidates really have to focus on getting it together in the early states. Besides we do have 10 more lovely debates before January 1, 2008. If that is not ample enough, then what is?

Obama Presidency a Stretch forVotersI can understand this sentiment. Why? Because Senator Obama is asking you to go beyond the conventional ways of thinking. He is asking you to pay attention, to not what he has to say, but to what all the candidates have to say. That is a stretch. Many voters are not informed on the basics of these candidates. Like, how do they vote? What is their stand on healthcare? What about Iraq? Many people don’t know the specifics. People get their information from 10-15 second sound bites like, “I’m Your Girl”. Well, I got a lot of girls, but I know what they are about. I know where they stand on personal and political issues. But the public only hears what the MSM want you to hear, the notorious sound bite.

What is happening in the Obama Camp is a turn in the campaign. He is more relaxed, gotten the stump down, out there with the people. This showed on last Sunday’s This Week Debate. The beating that he took only made him shine. And made the other candidates look very yesterday. It did. But Obama does not have much time to make the case. He has to turn it up, as he is doing.

Just 46 years old and three years out of the Illinois legislature, the freshman senator also understands that the clock is ticking on his chance to surmount that ''certain threshold'' and convince voters he's ready for the White House.

''The challenge for us is to let people know what I've accomplished at a time when the campaign schedule is getting so compressed,'' Obama said in a recent interview. ''I just don't have much time to make that case.''

Does he have enough time? That is a good question. But for right now, he is right where he need to be, with the people who will make the decision in January. The early states.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is leaping into the long-running Cuba debate by calling for the U.S. to ease restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to visit the island or send money home.

Obama's campaign said Monday that, if elected, the Illinois senator would lift restrictions imposed by the Bush administration and allow Cuban-Americans to visit their relatives more frequently, as well as ease limits on the amount of money they can send to their families.

``Senator Obama feels that the Bush administration has made a humanitarian and a strategic blunder,'' spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in an e-mail. ``His concern is that this has had a profoundly negative impact on the Cuban people, making them more dependent on the Castro regime, thus isolating them from the transformative message carried by Cuban-Americans.'' more, Barack Obama's Miami Herald Op/Ed Piece; viralvoice

Obama: He can turn out black votersI diaried this, earlier in the week. The perception or question being raised is really coming from the main stream media. Like the "is he black enough" question. Which is just laughable, to be frank, but go into the African-American community with all this. You will get your answers. Nuff said.

Obama gets direct: Why vote for me?

The voters who were gathered to question Barack Obama had their hands thrust in the air hoping to be called on. Instead, the Democratic presidential candidate decided to wrap things up by addressing the unmentioned elephant in the room.

"This last question I will prompt myself, and that's, 'Why you instead of Hillary?'" Obama said during a supporter's house party this week. "That's in the back of minds of a lot of people."

That direct approach was part of a new Obama campaign style during his visit to the nation's first primary state, where he has stalled in the polls behind Hillary Rodham Clinton. He still talked about the politics of hope and the need for change, but he also was eager to address whatever concerns might be keeping voters from signing on. more

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is scheduled to be in New Orleans on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

The freshman Illinois senator will speak Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on "Restoring and Remembering the Gulf Coast" during services at the First Emanuel Baptist Church at 1829 Carondelet St. He is scheduled to meet later with community representatives at a yet undetermined location. more

Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday the recent increase in American troops in Iraq may well have helped tamp down violence, but he insisted there is no military solution to the country's problems and U.S. forces should be redeployed soon.

Obama spoke a day after his main Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, made similar comments. She said the tactics of the short-term troop increase were working but political progress did not seem to be in sight and the U.S. should begin bringing some troops home.

Obama said in a telephone briefing, "If we put 30,000 additional troops into Baghdad, it will quell some of the violence short term. I don't think there is any doubt about that."

But that won't solve Iraq's critical political problems, he said in the call and again later in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. more

Ignore those nationwide polls that show Hillary Rodham Clinton leading the Democratic pack by 20 points or more. Forget the debates and forums that have already taken place. Discount even the jaw-dropping fundraising figures Barack Obama has posted.

Pay attention to Iowa.

That, at least, is the message six Democratic hopefuls sent this week as they chomped and grinned and hugged and autographed their way from one end of the state to the other. more

Hypotheticals,Again?This is an ongoing debate battle of “what if”. Obama has been attacked for stating publicly what all politicians’ state, privately. This was an attempt to drag him through the mud and show the world how ineffective and inexperienced he would be. What has happened is called “flip the script”. Not only have all the “naysayers” been silenced, but the critics have agreed with much of what Obama has said.

After being scolded and told not to use hypothetical’s, Obama’s rival, Senator Clinton not only uses hypothetical’s, but boldly embraces her statement and concedes this to the Republicans:

"It's a horrible prospect to ask yourself 'What if? What if?' " Clinton said. "But if certain things happen between now and the election, particularly with respect to terrorism, that will automatically give the Republicans an advantage again, no matter how badly they have mishandled it, no matter how much more dangerous they have made the world. So I think I'm the best of the Democrats to deal with that as well."

Well, that is the statement, you decide. Personally, leave the what if’s alone, especially if the Democratic Party is trying to be perceived as the party who will protect and defend the public against any domestic, foreign attacks and terror plots. Let us not concede this to the Republicans. You see where we have gone with them at the helm. To give them any credit is moving two steps backwards, not any steps forward.

obama in brooklyn (for the record, it was sold out)Brooklyn is for Barack Obama

..."Every single place we go it looks like this, people from all walks of life, you got black folks, white folks, Asian folks, Latino folks, and Native American folks and disabled folks," Mr. Obama said, NY1 reported.

At the Marriott Hotel fund-raiser, a man identified by Fox-5 News as an "immigrant doorman," Gregory Smith, introduced the senator and said he would give Mr. Obama his last dollar.

"Gregory giving me the money that he gave meant more than anybody writing a $2,300 check where it's a lot easier for them to write $2,300," Mr. Obama said. A ticket to the fund-raiser cost $25, and the event was standing room only and supporters also filled an overflow room at the hotel.

A grassroots political organization, Brooklyn for Barack, has been stirring up excitement for the candidate over the past few months, and political analysts say Mr. Obama's best shot at winning delegates from Mrs. Clinton may be in the city's most populous borough. more, NY Times

...Obama, whose day began at First Emanuel Baptist Church, said that long before Katrina, the nation had failed to lift up New Orleans, a city with persistent struggles such as poverty and poor public schools. He said that cannot happen again and that Americans have a "collective responsibility" to each other.

"Racial discord, poverty, the old divisions of black and white, rich and poor, it's time to leave that to yesterday," he said.

"In rebuilding, we've got an opportunity to do more than put up a foundation that for too long failed the people of New Orleans," he told congregants. Some snapped photos of him at the pulpit with their cell phones.

"In rebuilding, we've got an opportunity to build something better, a foundation that can put up with a lot, upon which the children of New Orleans can build their dreams." more, brooklynbadboy

Yes, men have HEROES, women have SHEROES, and that is what Michelle Obama is, to me.

Why? Well, after watching the bombardment of an outrageously, wrongfully, categorically, outlandish report of a non-story, Michelle Obama is my Shero. And if there is an award to be given for dealing with the contortion of the truth, give it to Michelle Obama, NOW.

The one thing out of all of this is that the Main Stream Media has put The Drudge Report, on their level. Yes, they reported and rehashed a story from a “blog”, and a yellow journalism, one at that. The story started at the Chicago Sun-Times, which was a blog type, stump type report. But the thing that stuck out was this:

At another stop, in Atlantic, Michelle said she travels with her husband in part "to model what it means to have family values," adding "if you can't run your own house, you can't run the White House." She didn't elaborate, but it could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons.

But what the writer of the Sun-Times forgot to include was the whole context of Michelle Obama’s stump speech, which is on this video, from beginning to end. This is a speech that she has been using on various occasions, but all of a sudden it is catapulted onto the front page of The Drudge Report as "Michelle Obama Attacking Hillary". Thanks to the main stream media, The Drudge Report is now catapulted to the equivalence of them, because they are repeating the story, showing the clip minus the full context, and filling up their empty television shows, news shows with misinformation. Can we say, that the main stream media at this juncture is totally discredited? I know they are to me.

So, for walking through the bogus media fire, Michelle Obama is my Shero. She did not have to denounce anything because she did not do or say anything wrong. As First Read, Salon, the video above, and many others have reported the story was taken totally out of context. A story, run amuck, as we shall say, due to total irresponsibility of the Main Stream Media. Which at this point is totally untrustworthy and should be looked upon with cynicism and great skepticism, and that is the bare minimum they are getting from me.

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